CONGRATULATIONS, CHICKENS, YOU'VE FINALLY COME HOME TO ROOST — NOW, YOU MUST RULE!

By Edwin Cooney

I had intended to title this commentary “The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth,” but since there are many truths or, if you prefer, factors that shout out for recognition, I've decided to address the wings that have delivered the inevitable forces that finally triumphed last Friday, June 24th, 2022. Hence, here come the chicken wings in all their glory or inglorious forces!

Here are the forces or realities that drove the rejection of Roe v. Wade:

(1.) The United States of America remains largely a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant country and it is determined to be a home primarily for white Christians and brave white men.

(2.) Women are valued, but they are secondary citizens be they sweethearts, wives, professional women, or even soldiers.

(3.) Those who have opposed Roe v. Wade are determined to connect church and state! They regard the United States of America as a Christian nation despite a 1797 declaration to the contrary issued by the administration of President John Adams asserting that church and state are separate entities.

(4.) Social welfare is generally second to economic welfare by too many very influential Americans.

(5.) Finally, there is the force best described as illusion. I'm sure that conservatives are congratulating themselves today that the overthrow of Roe is a moral victory over "collectivist socialism.” After all, the “good guys” must naturally prevail over the “bad guys” when all they've done is to put a price on abortion. If you doubt that, all you have to do is ask the rich what they will do and where they'll go when they decide to get an abortion!

Likely results:

Approximately half of the states had adopted laws which would end legal abortions once Roe v. Wade was overthrown last Friday morning. Some states are even considering laws punishing those women who go out of state to get an abortion after they return home. Many states that allow abortions will establish charitable private organizations to allow citizens in states where abortions are illegal to obtain abortions in their jurisdictions. Even more devastating will be the effect that the overturning of Roe may have on stem cell research which is vital to fighting life-altering diseases.

In the minds and hearts of many people, we are once again coming face to face with a moral issue. What's ironic to this observer is that those who time after time oppose government authority are seeking to use the government to enforce their own "moral" ends. Even more ironic is how those very same people resist the use of government to confront another primarily “moral" issue which we all call civil rights.

Opposition to abortion as I see it is a legitimate and even compelling political and moral position. Thoughtful men and women ought to be capable of establishing a set of conditions which would both allow and limit abortions. Both government and the administration of abortions are powerful entities and must be handled as such. Civil rights, abortion issues, and the use of nuclear weapons affect government operations in eight nations worldwide: The United States, Russia, China, Israel, Great Britain, France, Pakistan and North Korea. I draw this parallel because powerful issues must, to the maximum degree, be effectively handled as high above the political process as possible.

Before Monday, January 22nd, 1973, abortion rights were a minor political issue. What occurred on January 22nd 1973 was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States of a legal issue, Roe v. Wade.  What became political was reaction to that legal decision. As early as 1976, the right to an abortion was an issue only in the Democratic Party where Ellen McCormack, a 49-year-old housewife, filed with the Federal Election Commission to become a presidential candidate in the Democratic party. She only received 22 votes at the Democratic convention in 1976, but she was the first political candidate to receive matching federal election funds and she participated in a debate witch included future president Jimmy Carter. In 1980, she was the Right to Life candidate for the presidency, but she never joined the Republican Party's “Moral Majority” movement initiated by the Reverend Jerry Falwall.

No free people ought to avoid moral issues. However, the manner of inevitable debate of moral issues can be conducted above the cackling crowing, personal finger-pointing milieu that brought about the death of a responsible civil right.

So it's back to the drawing board. Let's do all we can to keep whatever resolution or alteration of the present situation out of the chicken manure!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY